Getting Into Fights Is Too Easy For Some People
by Blade Quill
Summary: Part 2 of the Violet Starscape Series: A month after her arrival in Edo, Kagura finds herself drawn into battle with an enemy she has encountered frequently. [Harusame Arc AU]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Be sure to read Part 1 before reading this one!  
**

True to Sougo's words, when Matsudaira visited the Shinsengumi compound the day after the festival, he had nothing but praise for all their efforts. Takasugi could always be caught when he next came to Edo, if he had even been there this time, so the mission was closed as a success. Matsudaira had also insisted that Kagura remain attached to the Shinsengumi for the time being, since word had come from Umibozu that he wouldn't be able to return to Earth for another three months, having taken a mission in a far-off colonised star system.

So, Kagura's stay in Edo became longer, not that she was complaining. After Matsudaira left, she found Sougo sitting out in the yard with a small campfire while he burned pages of what looked like an official report in it. Yamazaki was dangling upside down from the tree next to him. Kagura just raised an eyebrow and went about her day.

That evening, Hijikata invited her to speak to him after dinner.

"Sougo mentioned that Takasugi was likely there yesterday," he began, without preamble.

In a way, Kagura appreciated his direct attitude. "I didn't see him myself, but yes," she said, honestly.

He surveyed her through narrowed gunmetal blue eyes and lit a cigarette. "I can't say I understand your Yato instincts, but they seem to be right," he said. "If they tell you something, even if you think it will be hard for us to understand, I want you to share them. If not with everyone, then me or Kondo-san or Sougo, at least."

"It wasn't like I was trying to hide it," said Kagura, slightly defensively. "It's hard to explain to people, not to mention private, and I don't know how humans feel about Amanto yet."

"That's why I'm telling you now," he said. "This is me trying to ease your worries, so be grateful."

Kagura raised an eyebrow at his gruff tone in contrast to his slightly embarrassed face, and she was inexplicably reminded of times when her father tried his best to relate to things she liked. "I understand," she nodded, hiding her smile. "I will do my best to do that from now on."

He nodded and then took a long drag of his cigarette. "I also spoke to Kondo-san on how best to use your skills while you're here with us," he said. "We can leave finding Takasugi to our spies, so we can't have you just sitting here doing nothing."

"Makes sense," nodded Kagura.

"I want you to start training with the troops," he said. "They will benefit from having a stronger foe to spar with. They train with the sword in the morning which I supervise, so evenings will be your responsibility."

"That's fine with me," said Kagura.

Hijikata blew out smoke and nodded. "Apart from that, I want you to shadow Sougo on his patrol," he said.

"Huh?" she asked, not expecting that.

"He's the First Division's captain, which is our foremost unit," said Hijikata, without flinching at her displeasure. "While the guy is a pain in the ass, he's also the best fighter we have. You two made a good team during the previous mission, and Kondo-san feels like your partnership will benefit you both."

Kagura noted his choice of words and glared. "Did the Chief forget that we also hate each other and are always about one second away from breaking out into a fight that will level Edo if we decide to take it seriously?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, Kondo-san doesn't realise it," said Hijikata, and met her gaze squarely. "But I do."

"Then I don't have to partner with the Sadist?" asked Kagura, hopefully.

"No, Kondo-san's orders are absolute," he said.

"What the hell?" she asked, irritated.

He shrugged and continued smoking. "I'm hoping you will keep him out of trouble," he said.

"I'm not his babysitter," snapped Kagura.

"Funny, he said the exact same thing about you when I told him about this," said Hijikata. "But like I told him, Kondo-san's orders are absolute. We all have to follow them, including you."

Which was how Kagura found herself working with the person she disliked the most on the entire planet. Well, working was putting it generously, since he just mostly spent his time lazing around when he was supposed to be patrolling, so Kagura took to wandering around on her own to see more of Edo. He would inevitably join her, somehow able to find her even when she tried deliberately to get away from him. When asked about it, he said he had put a tracking device on her, and she was left wondering if he was telling the truth, but she found nothing on her of the sort after checking thoroughly.

Between wandering Edo all day with the Sadist and training troops in the evening, a month had passed before Kagura had realised.

On that particular morning, she skipped over to Kabukicho to visit the Yorozuya, but mostly just to see Sadaharu. She loved the critter with all her heart, and had been the one to name him after she'd heard Gintoki only refer to him as 'dog' ever since he'd had him.

"A cute little dog like him needs a name," she'd declared.

"You can take him home if you want," he'd said. "Keep him with the Shinsengumi."

"We're not allowed pets at the Shinsengumi compound," she'd said sadly. "It's one of the Kyokuchuu Hatto."

Gintoki had gone off on a rant about Hijikata after that, while Kagura had played with Sadaharu. Like visiting Otae, trying out various snacks around Edo, and dealing with the annoying Sadist, going to see Gintoki, Shinpachi and Sadaharu at Yorozuya Gin-chan had also become a part of her life here in Edo. Besides, if she picked her moment, it could be the day when Otose, Gintoki's landlady, took them all out for yakiniku like she had been promising.

However, when she got to the Yorozuya, she saw a prone Gintoki just inside the front door, groaning in pain and mumbling that he was never going to drink again.

Kagura stepped over him without missing a beat and went inside to fetch a blanket from his room. It wasn't an uncommon sight at all, and as she covered him the blanket, he grunted out his thanks, which turned into a yelp when the front door opened again and Shinpachi walked in.

"You still haven't moved?" asked Shinpachi, crossing his arms like an irate wife.

"You should really do a better job of raising him," said Kagura.

Shinpachi almost smiled at that. "It's difficult being a single parent," he said. "Thankfully, you seem to be taking care of him as much as I do."

Kagura laughed. "I came here to take Sadaharu out for a walk, but I guess you already walked him, huh?" she asked, noticing the bite marks and dirt on him.

Shinpachi sighed and went to the bathroom to wash up. "Yeah," he said. "I'm sorry I can't spend time here today, Kagura-chan," he said, emerging out moments later. "Gin-san and I have been hired to do a job. It's from a rich family and since the permed idiot over that drank away the last of my salary, we need this one."

"I didn't spend all of it," slurred Gintoki, still lying prone.

"You can get up and make yourself presentable," said Shinpachi, glaring at him sternly. "We are expected in twenty minutes."

Gintoki crawled onto all fours and went to the bathroom, and moments later, Shinpachi and Kagura heard him throwing up. Shinpachi sighed and shook his head.

"Kagura-chan, can I ask a favour?" he asked.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Can you feed Sadaharu and stay with him until he eats?" he asked, pleadingly. "He's recently started gulping down food all at once and then throwing it all up later, so we have to keep an eye on him as he eats."

"Oh, yeah, I can do that," said Kagura, always happy to spend time with Sadaharu.

"Thank you," smiled Shinpachi, gratefully. "Just bop him on the nose if he starts eating too fast."

"Sure!" said Kagura. "Come on, Sadaharu, let's go eat."

Sadaharu barked and followed her inside. While Kagura poured food into his bowl, she heard Gintoki and Shinpachi call out a goodbye as they left for their appointment.

"Wan!" Sadaharu barked in approval once she placed a full bowl of food in front of him.

Kagura hummed to herself as she sat down on the sofa, swinging her legs happily, occasionally swatting Sadaharu if he got too aggressive with his meal. The peacefulness of the house, the light filtering through the windows, the sounds of Kabukicho outside, it all felt wonderful to someone like her, who was more used to the silence of space and the cries of the monsters.

"If I'm not careful, I will fall in love with this planet," she murmured, out loud. Sadaharu barked in reply, and she smiled at him. "I already love you, though."

Once he was done eating, Kagura picked up the bowl and went to put it away. While she was in the kitchen, she heard a knock on the door.

"Pardon me!" called the visitor, a man judging by his voice. "Is Gintoki here?"

Kagura was in the process of putting away the bag of dog food, so she looked at Sadaharu. "Go answer the door, Sadaharu," she said.

Sadaharu barked once, and Kagura heard him slide open the door a moment later. She was pleasantly surprised that it had worked. Well, to an extent anyway, when she went to see who it was and found his head being gnawed on by Sadaharu.

"Let him go, Sadaharu," she said, pulling the dog off the man. "Can I help you?"

Despite being all bloody, his facial expression was one of calm. Dressed neatly in a navy blue kimono with a pale blue haori on top, the long-haired man looked at her in quiet surprise. Kagura, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. His smell, so easy for her senses to register because he was bleeding, was the sort she had smelled before.

"Are you a friend of Gin-chan's?" she asked warily, knowing he could easily be allied with either Gintoki or Takasugi.

He seemed to shake off the shock. "Gin-chan?" he repeated slowly, as if he'd never heard him referred to in that way, even though that was the name of his business. "Gintoki, you bastard, did you turn into a lolicon while I wasn't looking?" he murmured to himself, though Kagura heard it clearly.

"Oi, didn't I ask you something?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Oh, pardon me, Miss," he said, politely. "Is that dishonourable lolicon around?"

"I don't know if Gin-chan's a lolicon, but I just came here to feed Sadaharu," she said.

At that, the man sighed in relief. "That's good to know," he said. "I apologise for my rudeness. I'm Katsura Kotarou, a friend of Gintoki's."

"Kagura," she said. "Gin-chan and Shinpachi are out on a job, though, and aren't here."

"Oh, that's a problem," said Katsura, sounding genuinely distressed though his face was as calm as ever. "It's a matter of urgency, you see."

"Come in," said Kagura, still on guard but curious all the same.

He nodded and walked in behind her. It took all of her willpower to turn her back to lead him inside without attacking him.

Katsura sat down on a sofa, leaving Kagura to sit opposite him on the other sofa with the coffee table between them. The two of them stared at each other, the atmosphere in the room as tense as could be, and the two of them apparently equally wary of each other. Sadaharu bounded in and plopped down next to Kagura to take a nap, a fact which Katsura seemed to take a note of, since he cleared his throat and broke the oppressive silence.

"Kagura-dono," he said. "Are you an Amanto?"

"Yes," she said. The silence returned, and Kagura decided to get some answers of her own once it became apparent that Katsura was waiting for her move. "My turn to ask you a question then. Did you know Gin-chan and Takasugi when you were a child?"

A brief widening of his eyes was the only indication of his shock, and Kagura could feel how much more stifling the atmosphere was getting.

"What kind of an Amanto are you exactly, Kagura-dono?" he asked.

"You answer first," she said, stubbornly.

He sighed and crossed his arms. "Yes, I grew up with those idiots," he said.

"I'm a Yato," she said.

He nodded slowly. "So, you're the one hired by the Shinsengumi," he said. "I had heard they'd brought in a Yato alien hunter to root out the Jouishishi in Edo."

"Not Jouishishi, just Takasugi," corrected Kagura, and appraised him thoughtfully. "Besides, if that's all you heard about me, you would have attacked me already."

He chuckled a little. "I heard the Yato hired by the Bakufu dogs helped take down the robots during the festival last month," he said, and then met her gaze. "There wasn't a single civilian casualty. I am glad. Takasugi and I might have history, but we don't want the same things anymore."

"What do you want?" asked Kagura. "Are you like Gin-chan? Someone who's left all of that behind?"

"No," he said, as if she had insulted him. "I still believe in reclaiming our country from the incompetent Bakufu who bowed to the Amanto and threw away our pride. But that doesn't mean I am a rampaging beast like Takasugi, intent on destroying even the innocents in his way."

"Then where does this leave us?" she asked. "I am attached to the Bakufu dogs, and I won't be surprised if you're wanted by them. On the other hand, we are both friends with Gin-chan."

"It is a quandary indeed," he nodded, and then reached into his sleeve to pull out a clear plastic baggie filled with a white powder. "Do you know what this is?"

Kagura looked at it curiously, and Katsura placed it on the table between them. Kagura waited until he sat back to lean forward and pick it up. She noticed as his eyes watched her every movement sharply, and knew that the two of them were in an uncomfortable truce held by the tiniest of threads waiting to snap at the slightest wrong move. To an untrained eye, he probably looked delicate, even effeminate, but Kagura knew powerful people when she saw them. It would not be easy to beat Katsura in a fight, and it was a fact she felt down to her very bones.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Kagura opened the bag and sniffed it slightly, recoiling instantly as a look of horror crossed her face. "This is Paradise," she said, looking at Katsura in shock. "How did you get this?"

He didn't look surprised that she knew about it. "As I suspected," he said. "Our intelligence suggested it's a well-known drug in space."

"It's dangerous," said Kagura, setting it down quickly. "Even for someone like me. Not to mention what it can do to humans."

"Unfortunately, more and more people in Edo have been falling victim to it," said Katsura, crossing his arms once more.

"You got this in Edo? How?" she demanded. "That should be impossible. Paradise is only made on one remote planet and only one crime syndicate controls all supply of it."

Katsura nodded. "Yes, the Harusame pirates," he said.

Kagura felt a chill down her spine. "T-they're not here, are they?" she asked, her voice trembling just the slightest. At Katsura's nod, she felt the colour drain from her face. "Where?" she asked, getting to her feet quickly which startled Katsura.

His hand flew to his sword, though he stopped before he pulled it out. "Have you dealt with Harusame pirates before?" he asked instead, relaxing slowly once more.

Kagura had gripped her umbrella tighter when he'd gone for his sword, but seeing him withdraw, she relaxed her stance as well. It was like the worst game of chicken she had ever played.

"I have dealt with them before," said Kagura, focusing on their conversation. "They're dangerous, but I thought they hadn't dared to come to Earth. I have to stop them."

"Harusame have the Bakufu in their pockets," he said. "Doesn't that go against your allegiance?"

Kagura met his gaze fiercely. "I am an alien hunter, first and foremost," she said, her voice firm and steady. "The Harusame are the worst kinds of monsters. I don't care if they're buddies with the Shogun himself. Does that answer your question?"

Katsura chuckled and stood up. "I suggest a truce, then," he said. "Until we dispose of the common enemy."

Kagura nodded. "Until the enemy is disposed," she agreed.

* * *

The last thing Gintoki remembered was carrying Hamiko...er, their client's daughter, out of the club's restroom, and then falling and falling before he woke back up on the battlefield, carrying his comrade through a sea of corpses.

"There's nothing you can protect!"

With a gasp he woke up, his breathing laboured as his whole body ached in pain, and sweat gathered on his brow.

"Nightmare?"

He jumped at the voice and saw Kagura sitting at his bedside, her eyes far more understanding than they had any right to be for someone as young as her.

Gintoki lay back down, looking at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. "Where am I?" he asked.

"One of our safehouses," he heard, and looked to the side to see Katsura entering the room.

"Zura!" he said, shocked.

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura," he snapped, sitting down next to Kagura at Gintoki's bedside.

"Oi, isn't this dangerous?" asked Gintoki, looking between the two of them.

"We have reached a temporary truce until we deal with the Harusame," said Kagura.

"Harusame?" asked Gintoki, and his memories came back in a flash, most importantly the one where an unconscious Shinpachi was carried off by those drug-dealing Amanto. He sat up quickly and collapsed just as immediately due to the pain that hit him.

"Don't move," said Katsura. "I'm told you can't move your left arm and you also broke several ribs."

"The girl's fine, from physical injuries because of the fall, at least," Kagura told him. "But the drugs have ravaged her system. She'll need extensive treatment after this."

Gintoki sighed. "What the hell is that drug?" he asked.

"It's called Paradise," said Kagura. "It's used by many warmongering races to subdue civilian populace after conquest. The drug enslaves you to the sensation of the temporary pleasure it brings, making it easier to control you. But in the long term, it destroys your mind and body like any drug would."

"Kagura-dono has a history with the Harusame, which is why she agreed to help," said Katsura. "We were on our way to find you when one of my men reported they'd found you half dead in the alley behind a known Harusame establishment."

"I have to go," said Gintoki, tired of listening to them talk. He didn't give a damn about the Harusame or their drug. He stumbled over to where his clothes were sitting in a neat pile and started getting dressed.

"Oi, are you listening?" asked Katsura, irritated.

"I don't care," said Gintoki. "They have Shinpachi."

He heard Kagura stand up and walk up to him. "We know where their ship is," she said, seriously. "I can get you both in, so we can save Shinpachi and put an end to their operation in one swoop."

"How are you getting us in?" asked Gintoki.

Kagura smirked and reached for her umbrella. "I'm going to offer them a Yato as a recruit," she said. "The two of you have just got to disguise yourselves."

Katsura walked up to Gintoki, and handed him a pile of different clothes. "Take these instead, especially if they have seen your ugly mug already," said Katsura.

Gintoki accepted the disguise and glared at him for that remark. Kagura nodded at them and left, so he and Katsura could get changed. Katsura waited until she was gone to turn to Gintoki.

"How much do you trust her?" he asked, bluntly.

Gintoki raised his gaze to him. "Just about as much as you seem to do," he said. "Bringing her to a safe house and all, agreeing to work with her too."

"I don't trust her at all," he lied, crossing his arms. Gintoki smirked, and Katsura supposed it was the curse of being old friends that you couldn't lie to one another. "She's just a child," he sighed, dropping the pretense. "A sincere and determined person, but a child just the same."

"I think she had just about as much choice as we did about walking this path," said Gintoki, looking away. "What about you? You said you had a truce, but what happens after that?"

"The Shinsengumi may be a thorn in my side, but I won't be going after her," he said, firmly. He had better principles than going after an ally who was willingly helping them to take down a threat to Edo.

"Because she's a child?" asked Gintoki, wincing slightly as he pulled on the new clothes.

"No, because she wants the same thing as we do," he said truthfully.

"Oi, did you recruit her to your cause or something?" asked Gintoki, disapproval evident in his tone.

"She wants to protect people who are innocent in all of this," said Katsura, remembering her determined gaze and serious demeanour when faced with the possibility of the Harusame being in Edo. "Someone like that would be an excellent addition to our cause, but even if she fights on the side of the Bakufu, knowing someone like her is still a part of them is only a good thing."

Gintoki smiled at him. "She could still choose to arrest you, you know," he said.

"I would be honoured," said Katsura. "I'd rather be arrested by someone like her with her own values and principles than dogs of the Bakufu who only know to do what their masters order them to do."

"Zura," began Gintoki. "I think you might be turning into a lolicon. What's wrong? You got tired of chasing after married women?"

Without caring he was injured, Katsura punched Gintoki's good shoulder hard enough to make him yelp. "If you weren't injured, I would have done worse for saying such disrespectful words to a samurai," he said, with dignity. "And it's Katsura, not Zura. Come on, let's go save Shinpachi-kun. I'll be your left arm in this fight, as I promised."

"First apologise for injuring my right shoulder right now, you bastard," grumbled Gintoki.

"Oi, are you two done?" asked Kagura, walking back into the room. "We should leave as soon as possible. If they have Shinpachi, we have to be quick."

"Who made you leader?" grumbled Gintoki, but followed her just the same.

"I agree, I should be the leader," said Katsura.

"No, I'm wearing the most red, which makes me the leader," said Kagura, pointing to the piping and fastenings on her white cheongsam that were red, along with the red flower pattern on the hem.

"I don't really understand, but if that's what that means, then it can't be helped," said Katsura. "I'll do as you say, Leader."

"Good," nodded Kagura. "Zura, you said you have explosives, right? Fill two travel cases with explosives and follow me."

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura," he said, but went to do as she said.

"What exactly are you planning?" asked Gintoki.

"You're going there to save Shinpachi," she said. "But my mission is to put an end to their operation."

Katsura paused what he was doing and glanced at Gintoki, whose eyes had widened just briefly, and for a moment, he expected him to stop her, but then an inscrutable look passed over his face.

"And what will you be protecting when you do that?" he asked, his voice grave.

Kagura looked sad, the most vulnerable Katsura had seen her since meeting her. "Who knows?" she asked, her voice small. "I'm still new to this protecting thing, but I have been good at hunting for a while now. That's what I'll be doing. I'm an alien hunter, after all."

Gintoki cast an almost helpless look towards Katsura, but then sighed and nodded when he looked back at Kagura. "Alright," he said. "Let's get this over with."

Kagura nodded back, and the walk down to the docks where the Harusame ship was anchored was entirely silent, with all three of them lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

"Who the hell are you?" asked the toad-like Amanto guarding the entrance of the ship.

Katsura noticed the way Kagura kept her face partially blocked by the open umbrella she was holding. He also noticed how the Amanto paled a little when he saw the umbrella.

"I'm here to join," she said. "Out of the way."

"Er, are you a…?" the Amanto began and she reached out a hand and crushed his weapon in her fist, turning the metal staff into broken bits.

"Does that answer your question?" she asked.

"Y-yes," stammered the Amanto. "Who are these two?" he asked, looking at Katsura and Gintoki.

"We want to be pirates to find the One Park," said Gintoki. "Right, Zura?"

"It's not Zura, it's Captain Katsura," he retorted.

"One Park?" asked the Amanto. "What's that?"

"It's none of your business. Can't you see the bags they're carrying?" asked Kagura, speaking like he was an imbecile. "They're my servants. You don't expect me to carry my own things, do you?"

"N-no, of course not," he said, and turned around to let them in.

In a blink, Kagura reached up and knocked him out with a blow to the back of the head, and the Amanto fell forward inside the ship. She stepped over him and turned around to look at Katsura and Gintoki.

"Gin-chan, find Shinpachi and get him out," she said, taking the bag of explosives that he had been holding. "Zura, you take the explosives you have with you and set them to blow up the drugs."

"It's not Zura, it's Katsura," he said, wondering how she'd picked up Gintoki's habit so quickly.

She ignored him, and continued speaking. "Make sure to get everything," she said. "Don't worry about the rest of the pirates. They're mine to deal with."

Her orders were calm, her demeanour and voice steady. It was eerie when coming from a teenage girl. Still, it was said with enough authority to make them obey. Besides, Katsura remembered how that Amanto had trembled at the mere sight of her, and it hadn't been her face he had been afraid of. He glanced down briefly at the weapon she had crushed, and knew she wasn't to be underestimated, not that he had to begin with.

As Gintoki took off towards the bow of the ship, Katsura went inside to find the drugs. The stash was easy to find, and he set the explosives, disposing of the few pirates who tried to stop him. The interior of the ship was largely empty, but he could hear the commotion from the bow of the ship where Gintoki had gone, and he knew Kagura would have headed there as well. Once he had set up all the explosives, he ran to the front of the ship, in time to see Gintoki take down the leader with a deadly move of his bokuto. The pirates surrounding them watched in horror as their leader went down.

Katsura was about to jump into the fray to lend assistance, when he saw Kagura jump down right next to Gintoki.

"Take Shinpachi and go," he heard her say to him, and Gintoki only hesitated briefly before grabbing Shinpachi.

Katsura watched in amazement as she stayed perfectly still while Gintoki and Shinpachi escaped, but what amazed him more was how none of the pirates moved either, and the faces that he could see were looking at the umbrella with fear. That fear only intensified when she lifted the umbrella slightly and they caught a glimpse of her face.

"Zura, you need to leave."

Those were the words she said, before Kagura was nothing more than a blur of white, slicing and shooting her way through the pirates, whose self-preservation finally kicked in as they began attacking her. Unable to move, Katsura could only stare at the carnage she wrought, turning the pristine white deck of the ship red with blood.

"Zura!" she yelled, and for a terrifying moment their gazes met.

Katsura felt his body move without permission, as he followed Gintoki and Shinpachi in escaping. He stopped when he reached the two of them on the docks, both of them looking at him in shock.

"Don't," said Katsura, when Gintoki turned to go back. "Gintoki, she's...she's like you."

That made him stop, and he turned away but not before Katsura saw the shocked and pained look on his face.

"What are you talking about, Katsura-san?" asked Shinpachi, and Katsura noticed that he was injured, obviously having taken a beating at the hands of the pirates. "That was Kagura-chan, wasn't it? We should be going back for her. Right, Gin-san?" When Gintoki didn't respond, Shinpachi struggled to get to his feet, even though his expression told Katsura that it was not easy for him to do. "Gin-san?" he asked.

"You're injured, Shinpachi-kun," said Katsura, knowing that Gintoki was in no state to respond. "Kagura-dono is fine. She is merely finishing up back there."

"Finishing up what, exactly?" asked Shinpachi. "She can't fight all of them by herself!"

The spirit of a samurai was what Katsura saw in his eyes, and it made things feel even worse. The shouts and cries on the ship fell silent at last, and all three of them looked at the ship as the sun began to set.

"S-she's okay, right?" Shinpachi was the first one to break the silence.

A loud explosion rang through the air as the entire ship erupted, destroying it completely and sinking its remains into the water.

"Gintoki, you should get Shinpachi-kun to the doctor," said Katsura. "Get his injuries treated." The implication lingered in the air, but Gintoki understood.

Ignoring Shinpachi's protests, Gintoki picked him up and carried him on his back, walking away without another word. Katsura waited in the shadows, and only when Gintoki and Shinpachi had left the area completely, did Kagura emerge.

He had prepared himself for the sight, but it had still been a while since he had seen a sight like that. Her white cheongsam was stained red, there was blood on her arms, face and hair, but only a little of it belonged to her. Her umbrella was covered in blood, and she was favouring her left side just a little as she limped over.

"Thank you for sending them away," she said, when she saw him. "I don't think I would have been able to look them in the eye again if they'd seen me like this."

"Gintoki might understand better than you think," he said, as she collapsed to sit down on the ground, leaning her back against the shipping container they were hiding near.

"Right now, I doubt anyone can understand what I did," she said, her voice flat. "Gin-chan was right, wasn't he? There was nothing I was protecting just now."

"Leader," he said, ignoring it when she flinched at the title. "You led two of your comrades into the enemy territory where they were holding a hostage, and all of them survived. I would say you protected what you were meant to protect."

"That would have been true if I had escaped after ensuring the safety of my comrades and the hostage," she said. "What happened next wasn't protecting anyone."

"With respect, I disagree with your assessment, Leader," said Katsura. "You destroyed the scum who were poisoning our children. The cowardly Bakufu lined their pockets and gave them free reign to ravage our land and our citizens, and you brought them rightful justice. The way I see it, you protected a lot more than just your comrades and the hostage."

She stood up using her umbrella as a crutch and sighed. "I'm sure your assessment isn't completely flawless either," she said. "Besides, I don't like people making excuses for me. I did what was expected of me, and I have no right to demand justification for my actions."

"Maybe not, but I still believe you acted like a true samurai and protected Edo," he said.

Kagura finally raised her gaze to his, and Katsura saw that there was no sign of tears, and her gaze was calm and collected. "I think our truce is at an end, isn't it?" she asked. "I have to report my actions to the Shinsengumi, so it would be a real shame if you should escape before that."

"What will you tell them?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I went after the Harusame by myself, of course," she said. "Alien hunters always work solo. And if I come across the wanted Jouishishi Katsura Kotarou, I will be rushing to arrest him with the Shinsengumi."

Katsura smiled and bowed deeply. "Then I, Katsura Kotarou, will run away now," he said. "Away from the dogs of the Bakufu, as always."

"You should do that," she said, and for a moment a small smile crossed her face.

Katsura raised his head and smiled slightly before disappearing into the twilight. He glanced back only once, and saw Kagura square her shoulders as she headed to meet justice.


	2. Chapter 2

It took Kagura a lot longer than usual to make her way back to the Shinsengumi compound, and the sun had set long before she got there. In some ways it worked in her favour because the dark made it easier for her to sneak around Edo and get back without being seen by anyone, since her bloodied appearance would be extremely hard to explain.

Arriving near the Shinsengumi compound, luck seemed to be on her side and she got there just around dinner time, so she wasn't spotted when she scaled the wall near her room and got inside. In her room, she changed out of her ruined clothes and took a quick bath, washing the blood and guts off herself, going through the motions quickly. Having already had a lot of time pass already, she dressed hurriedly, grabbed her umbrella and went to see Hijikata.

She knocked on his door, and opened it when he called for her to enter. Kondo and Sougo were also there, and all three of them looked surprised to see her.

"Where have you been, China?" asked Sougo, and she remembered that he had been out with the First Division for a specialised training course with Matsudaira today, which was why she'd been on her own.

"That's what I'm here about," she said. "May I have a moment?"

"Of course," said Kondo.

Kagura walked inside and sat down in front of them, setting her umbrella down next to her. She saw their gazes flit over to it, and remembered that she hadn't had time to clean it before coming there. The atmosphere in the room immediately grew a lot more serious.

"It's about the ship that exploded at the docks today," she said, keeping her gaze steady.

* * *

Hijikata heard Kagura's words, and his eyes went back to the bloodied umbrella and over to the healing cuts on her arms, before he looked down at the papers he was holding which was a report regarding a suspicious ship being destroyed at the docks, allegedly at the hands of a single Amanto. The pieces started to connect and he reached into his jacket for a cigarette.

"Start from the beginning," he said.

She nodded, her expression calm though her posture was tense. "The ship belonged to the Harusame pirates," she said. "I was the one responsible for taking it down."

"You took down a pirate ship by yourself?" asked Kondo, and Hijikata heard the tension in his voice though he was sure Kagura didn't.

"Yes," she said. "It's not the first time I've encountered the Harusame, and I acted as per my training and principles as an alien hunter. But, I also realise that doing this is probably a violation of my duties while I'm working with the Shinsengumi."

"Toshi, who are the Harusame pirates?" asked Kondo.

Hijikata blew out the smoke and sighed. "The biggest crime syndicate in the galaxy," he said, feeling the beginnings of a headache.

"They have twelve divisions, each one led by a captain who reports to the Admiral in charge of the fleets," said Kagura, and Hijikata's ears perked up at that new information. Their intel on the Harusame was not extensive at all, since they'd only recently made their way to Earth, as far as they knew. "They deal with everything from drugs to weapons to slaves, all throughout the galaxy."

"Low lives, then," said Sougo, summing it up accurately.

"The worst kind," nodded Kagura. "These particular ones were drug smugglers, spreading Paradise onto the Edo streets."

"Paradise?" asked Hijikata, wondering why the name sounded familiar.

"Harada's unit has been investigating it," said Sougo. "They tried to do some raids, but the perpetrators were always tipped off."

"With the kind of reach the Harusame have, it's likely they have someone within the Bakufu in their pockets," said Kagura, vocalising what they were all thinking.

"Have you dealt with the Harusame before?" asked Kondo.

Kagura nodded. "They're well-known," she said, and then hesitated. "But mostly, I know because of their seventh division. It's their strongest fleet, and is famous as the combat division that acts as enforcers." She looked away. "It's a division made entirely of Yato."

Hijikata had seen what she could do, and he didn't want to imagine what an entire division full of Yato was capable of.

"That's not all," said Kagura, and she took a deep breath as if to steel herself. "The captain of the seventh division is known as the pride of the Harusame and is a bloodthirsty monster, and their deadliest enforcer."

"You know him?" asked Sougo.

"I should," she said. "He's my older brother."

Hijikata nearly dropped his cigarette. "Your-?"

"Brother," she repeated. "The pride of the largest crime syndicate in the galaxy."

There was silence after that pronouncement, and Hijikata wondered where to even begin with this.

"How did you find out about the Paradise?" he asked finally, deciding to come back to the matter at hand.

"I heard about a suspicious club and encountered someone who had fallen victim to the drug," she said. "Signs of Paradise poisoning are very distinctive. The club was also crawling with Harusame, so it wasn't difficult to follow them back to their ship. I snuck onto the ship under the pretense of joining, and well…" She looked away briefly once again, before sighing. "Once they saw my face, it wasn't difficult to defeat them."

"Your face?" asked Kondo.

She seemed to coil in on herself. "I look like him," she said. "We're virtually identical."

None of them needed to ask who she meant.

"If you knew where the ship was, why not report it to us?" asked Hijikata, recovering quickly.

"If they have the Bakufu in their pocket, there wasn't much the Shinsengumi could have done," she said, bluntly.

"That's not your call to make," said Hijikata. "Whether or not we can do something is up to us to decide. If we were prevented from doing our job, then we could have turned to alternative options."

She looked slightly surprised. "I see," she said. "But, like I said, I acted on my duty as an alien hunter. Letting them have even the slightest influence in Edo would mean the end of it."

"But you attacked their ship," said Kondo, with a worried look on his face. "Wouldn't that just draw their attention further?"

"There were no survivors," she said, and the single sentence sent a chill down Hijikata's spine. "I made sure of it before blowing up the ship and sinking it."

Hijikata glanced at Kondo, and saw his eyes wide with horror. Sougo's face was impassive, and Hijikata could relate to his reaction better.

"How many were there?" asked Hijikata.

"Over sixty definitely, probably closer to hundred," she said. "They weren't the most skilled fighters and mostly relied on numbers."

Hijikata put out the cigarette and rubbed his forehead. "And the drugs?" he asked.

"Destroyed with the ship," she said. "I made sure of that, too."

"Kondo-san, what do we do?" he asked.

Kondo crossed his arms and closed his eyes in thought. "Kagura-san," he began sternly. "While you're not officially a part of the Shinsengumi, you are still bound by the same rules as us while you're in Edo. However," he added, opening his eyes and meeting her gaze. "I also realise that you have your own code as an alien hunter to follow. Someone in your profession acts on their own authority, and you were acting against an element that you knew was dangerous. You took out your target in the pursuit of that duty."

Hijikata almost smiled and reached for another cigarette, reading between the lines of what Kondo had said. "Wait outside while Kondo-san and I make a decision," he told her.

Kagura nodded and stood up, leaving the room quickly. Hijikata shot a look at Sougo, who sighed and went after her.

"Toshi, what do we do?" asked Kondo.

"It's like you said, Kondo-san, she acted on her authority as an alien hunter to get rid of a known dangerous target that had evaded Shinsengumi in the past," he said, bluntly. "You and I both know that we would have had no chance to do anything if the Bakufu was involved."

"She also killed almost a hundred people," he said.

"Yes," said Hijikata. "But that is also a part of her job. Just like us."

"I know," admitted Kondo. "I thought I would be used to it, having Sougo with us from the beginning and all, but I think I still worry when they're younger than usual."

"A father who's a legendary alien hunter, and an older brother who is the enforcer of the largest crime syndicate in the galaxy," said Hijikata, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Kondo-san, I don't think she ever had the chance to be young."

"Yeah," he sighed. "So, what do we do?"

* * *

"What do you think they'll do?" asked Kagura, her voice quiet.

"Who knows?" said Sougo, as he sat next to her on the _engawa_ outside Hijikata's room. "If it would have been an official mission, you'd be up for promotion."

"I don't need praise for what I did," she said, glaring at him.

"How many were there, really?" he asked.

"Huh? You think I lied back there?" she asked, irritated.

He looked at her, and she was surprised at his stony expression. "I'm asking the exact number," he said.

"Eighty, maybe more," she admitted.

"Eighty," he chuckled, and the sound terrified Kagura because there was no humour in it.

In a flash, he reached out and grabbed her right wrist and held it. His grip was feather light and even without her strength, she would have found it absurdly easy to pull away but the look in his eyes kept her completely still.

Kagura tried desperately to recognise that emotion. It wasn't quite anger, but not completely admiration either. The closest she could describe it was…excitement?

"I want to fight you," he whispered.

Kagura fought back a shiver as his fingers caressed her wrist as he slowly released her. "N-now?" she asked, stammering for some reason.

"All the time," he said, and then looked annoyed. "All the damn time."

That only confused her even further, but the door opened behind them, and Kagura jumped back, realising that the two of them had been sitting closer than they had been before.

"Kagura, Sougo," greeted Hijikata.

Kagura stood up and faced the Vice Chief, noticing that Sougo had turned his gaze to the sky and was seemingly ignoring both of them.

"Oi, listen up, because it concerns both of you," snapped Hijikata.

Sougo heaved an irritated sigh but turned around to look at him.

"Kagura, Kondo-san and I both feel you acted within your authority on this one," he said, and Kagura felt her heart soar with relief. "But," he added, and it was brought crashing down. "If something like this comes up again, you will inform us before taking action. We won't be pursuing this particular matter any further, but as long as you're working with the Shinsengumi, you will have to familiarise yourself with our methods and past cases. You'll continue training in the evening, but during the day Sougo will be going through important cases and Shinsengumi investigative methods with you for the next week."

"Shouldn't Yamazaki be doing something like that?" asked Sougo.

"She's your partner," said Hijikata, and then smirked at the dismayed looks he received from the two of them. "Have a good night."

* * *

Kagura slept fitfully that night, plagued by nightmares about her brother, which was par for the course whenever she had a day like the one she'd had. She woke up before the sun was up, and sat on the _engawa_ outside her room, feeling loneliness well in her heart. Edo was nice, the people she'd met were nice, but...it still felt hollow and fleeting. Like a passing dream that would be over before she knew it, blinding her with its beauty before plunging her into more darkness than before.

Then again, that was the path she'd chosen. An alien hunter could never be confined to a single planet, could not be bound by anyone's laws or rules but their own. There was no place for someone like her, apart from being in space and fighting until she couldn't before dying in the same kind of bloodshed as the Yato that had come before her. It was a fate she'd known ever since she was young, but Edo was making her heart waver. It was making her want dangerous things like friends and comrades and a home to come back to. This city on this tiny blue planet was starting to feel like home, the people were making their way into her heart and into her life without permission, and it was terrifying.

"K-kagura-san?" She turned around, slightly startled when she heard Yamazaki. "You have a visitor at the gate."

"Visitor?" she asked, confused.

He nodded quickly, still nervous in her presence or maybe that was his natural state of being.

"Right," said Kagura. "Thanks." He nodded and scampered off, and Kagura walked through the courtyard to get to the front entrance of the compound, still wondering who could have wanted to come and see her first thing in the morning. Her surprise only increased when she saw the person waiting for her just outside the gate. "Shinpachi?"

He turned around and smiled at her, a bandage on the right side of his face and his left arm in a sling, but looking fine otherwise. "Good morning, Kagura-chan," he said.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kagura, realising that quite a few of the Shinsengumi members were pretending they weren't looking at them as they went about their morning activities.

Shinpachi seemed to notice it too, but he held out a plastic shopping bag to her. "Here," he said.

Kagura took the bag and looked inside to see five cartons of Baagen Daz. "For me?" she asked, smiling in delight.

He nodded. "The job yesterday went well and we actually got paid, so I bought some for _aneue_ and she said you like it as well. It's thanks for yesterday," he said. "For looking after Sadaharu and all," he added as clarification, since he seemed to be aware that their conversation was far from private.

"Oh," she said, noticing the intensely grateful smile despite his lighthearted words and realising that the thanks was for much more than just helping with Sadaharu. "Of course, it's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal," he insisted. "Gin-san thinks so too, and he says you're welcome to visit us as soon as you have free time."

"I'll do that," she said, getting the message.

Shinpachi nodded, and turned to leave. "Have a nice day, Kagura-chan," he said. "Enjoy the Baagen Daz."

"I will, thank you, Shinpachi," she said, waving goodbye.

He waved back and left, and Kagura felt her mood soar considerably since she'd heard Katsura mention the Harusame. With a renewed bounce in her step, she headed back inside, ignoring the curious stares and whispers wondering if their 'Nee-san's' brother was dating her. It amused her to no end how everyone in Shinsengumi had already started calling Otae 'Nee-san' even though the Chief was still at the stalker phase with her.

"Oi, China, what's with the creepy smile?" drawled the familiar voice as she approached the kitchen.

Kagura ignored him and went to stash the ice cream into the freezer. As an afterthought, she picked up some spare bit of paper and wrote a quick note on it that she taped to the cartons: 'This belongs to Kagura. If you eat it, I will cut off something precious.'

"There, that will work," she said.

"And you call me a sadist?" asked Sougo, reading the note. " _Megane_ bring those for you? Why?"

She smirked at him. "Don't get jealous just because people like me more than you," she said.

"I could care less about your taste in men, China, though I think I expected better," he shrugged.

"Fortunately for you, Sadist, he was just being grateful because I help look after Sadaharu from time to time," she said, turning to leave to get ready for the day. She was almost out of the kitchen when she heard the freezer open. Kagura turned back just in time to see Sougo pick up a carton of the Baagen Daz she had just placed inside. "You want to lose something precious?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.

Sougo grabbed a spoon and opened the lid of the carton, deliberately keeping his gaze on her. Kagura made a sound of anger and ran at him, but he just smirked down at her as he held the carton high above their heads. Kagura gave up trying to get it and punched him in the gut instead, making him double over with a grunt of pain. She quickly grabbed the carton but he lunged towards her and the two engaged in a battle, with Sougo doing his best to scoop up ice cream with his spoon to eat it while Kagura tried to protect the carton and push him away at the same time to prevent him from stealing bites of her ice cream.

To their credit, they managed to trade blows for a while until Kagura grabbed a spoon of her own and began eating the ice cream from the same carton before Sougo could finish it all. Between the pushing, shoving, cursing and stealing ice cream, the carton was nearly empty before they knew it. Frustrated and still recovering from some of the muscle stress after the previous evening's activities, Kagura was the first to tire, and Sougo took advantage of it to grab the carton from her and scoop up a big spoonful for himself.

"You're the worst, you know that," said Kagura, leaning against the kitchen counter to catch her breath. She never remembered eating ice cream being such a strenuous activity, but like everything involving the Sadist, it had turned competitive in an instant.

He continued eating until the carton was empty and tossed it towards the bin in the corner without looking, but it landed neatly inside which just pissed Kagura off more. "Can't say I care much for this flavour," he shrugged.

That was it. Kagura advanced on him and grabbed the front of his jacket. "Apologise to Baagen Daz," she yelled, shaking him violently. "And throw up everything you just ate, you bastard."

He looked at her with a deadpan expression which only angered her further. She opened her mouth to keep yelling at him for having the gall to insult her Baagen Daz after stealing it, but he took his spoon which still had the last spoonful of ice cream in it and put it in her mouth. Kagura recoiled in shock as he fed her the last bite of the Baagen Daz, and he used her sudden immobility to pry her hands off him.

"Kondo-san has called a meeting in an hour," he said, walking away. "Quit just standing there and hurry up."

Kagura blinked and pulled the spoon out of her mouth, getting the sudden urge to either tackle the Sadist and beat the hell out of him, or crawl into her futon and hide for a week. But, because she was Kagura, the fearless alien hunter prodigy and a Yato to boot, she glared fiercely at his back and headed to her room to get changed into her battle outfit before attending the meeting.

There was no way she was ever letting the Sadist get one over on her like this ever again.

* * *

Sougo walked to the meeting room after making a detour to his own room, his heart racing faster than usual which he attributed to another fight with China, this time over that damn Baagen Daz that the damn Yorozuya _megane_ had brought her. It was surprising for him to think badly of _megane_ whom he usually just regarded as background decoration, but the smile on China's face after getting the gift was pissing him off, so it had been necessary to mess with her.

Still, he also did something that was out of character for him. He was grateful that the troops had all been in morning training with Hijikata at the time and that no one would have been near the kitchen to witness that. Words like indirect kiss passed through his mind but he ignored them. He was just trying to shut her up about apologising to ice cream or whatever she was going on about, and he happened to have the last bite of ice cream that he was yet to eat. That was all there was to it.

"Sougo," greeted Hijikata, when he entered, and then looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Why are you red?"

"I had a wonderful day dream about your very painful death," answered Sougo, sitting down in his usual place. It wasn't going to be full officer's meeting, so he only saw a few of the officers and two dozen soldiers all sitting in the room, talking amongst themselves. Kondo and China were still missing, so Sougo pulled out his sword under the pretext of cleaning it and swung it at Hijikata a few times to kill time (and Hijikata).

Unfortunately, the demon Vice Chief was alert this morning and dodged all his blows without even looking up from the report he was reading. Sougo changed targets when China arrived, dressed in the white cheongsam she usually wore when they were working, and sat down at the only open space which happened to be next to Sougo, mostly because everyone in the Shinsengumi tended to give him a wide berth for fear of being in the crossfire as he tried to kill Hijikata. Seeing as Hijikata wasn't providing the usual entertainment, Sougo swung the sword at China, who blocked it with her umbrella, and glared at him which told Sougo that she was still annoyed. It only made him smirk more.

Kondo entered at last, and Sougo sheathed his sword, as everyone else fell silent. He took his seat at the head of the room, and nodded at everyone. "Good morning," he said. "I called this meeting instead of our usual morning meetings because we have an urgent mission. Toshi, go ahead."

Hijikata blew out smoke from his lips and faced all of them. "Yesterday evening, a certain ship in the docks was destroyed," he said, and Sougo noticed China tense up just a little from the corner of his eye. "It contained illegal drugs and was owned by the Harusame pirates. Harada," he said, and the tenth division captain sat up slightly. "It was the drug your division was chasing, Paradise. The Harusame were the ones behind it."

"Who destroyed them?" asked Harada. "I want to send them flowers and bottles of Dom Peri."

"That is classified information, but rest easy that the Harusame won't be an issue for now," said Kondo.

"What we need to focus on now is why Harada and his team couldn't get close to them," said Hijikata.

"It's not a mystery," said Harada, crossing his arms. "It had to be someone within the Bakufu that they had in their pocket."

"Yeah," said Hijikata, and held up the photograph of a frog-like Amanto. "Since the ship blew up, we were able to treat it like a crime scene and Todo's division has been working all night to track down the ship's comings and goings through the manifesto. They found that they were all authorised by this guy, Kinya."

"Kinya, huh?" asked Harada, smiling fiercely as he looked at the photograph. "So, we're taking him down, right?"

Sougo saw the set of Hijikata's jaw and knew that wouldn't be the case, even before he spoke. Fortunately, Kondo decided to spare him.

"The Shinsengumi has been ordered to protect Kinya," he said.

There were sounds of outrage from everyone in the room, and though Sougo was silent, he shared in their sentiment. He glanced at China who had been silent too, but definitely looked annoyed.

"What are we protecting him from?" asked Yamazaki.

"Apparently, Kinya's association to criminals was well-known to various Jouishishi," said Hijikata. "Now that the Harusame are gone, the Jouishishi are all gunning for Kinya, who's lost his protection."

"So we're replacing the criminals now?" asked Harada.

"It's the Shinsengumi's job to fight the Jouishishi," said Kondo, firmly. "Whether Kinya is guilty or not, our job is to defend him as long as he is a target."

"The property's big," said Hijikata, before an argument could break out. "So, try not to get lost around it. Let's go."

Sougo noticed the slightly confused look on China's face as everyone obeyed Hijikata and filed out towards the patrol cars to go to the frog's house. "What's wrong, China?" asked Sougo.

"Huh?" she asked, and then shook her head. "It's just that he didn't specify if we're taking shifts or talk any strategy."

Sougo smirked at her naivety. "China," he said, as if speaking to a child. "We may have been given orders that we have to follow, but we still have integrity, you know. And putting all our effort into defending a known criminal isn't something you'll find the Shinsengumi doing. We'll do the bare minimum, and stop the Jouishishi if they show up."

She looked surprised at that, and then smiled. "That makes me feel better," she said.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, you two," warned Hijikata as the three of them walked out to a squad car with Kondo. "That frog bastard might be associating with criminal scum but he's still Bakufu."

"Toshi," said Kondo, sternly. "We still have to be polite until there's proof he's guilty."

"I know, I know," said Hijikata. "We'll protect the allegedly innocent bastard."

Said bastard was not going to make it easy for them, it seemed. If he wasn't grumbling about being confined to his house, he was complaining that they were all noisy. Sougo just put on his eye mask and decided to take a nap.

He registered someone sitting next to him, and lifted his mask to see China, though her face was currently wrapped in bandages. She'd done it on the car ride over to Kinya's house, citing the need to hide her identity, wearing the heavy cape and scarf as well, looking like she had when she'd first arrived at the Shinsengumi compound.

"It's hot," she complained, her voice slightly muffled.

"Pardon me, I can't hear you from the fifty layers you're hiding under," said Sougo, putting his mask back on and closing his eyes. "Also, who are you? China mummy monster?"

"Who're you calling a mummy monster, you damn chihuahua?" she snapped, and then sighed in frustration. "It's too hot to get angry."

"Go inside then," he said.

"Can't," she said flatly. "That frog was already eyeing me weirdly, and I don't want to give away that I'm a Yato just yet."

"He was probably wondering if you were a frog too, so he could propose," said Sougo, barely dodging the punch she sent at his head.

"I won't marry a frog like him," she said. "My Papi says I'm only allowed to marry someone who can defeat him in battle. That frog won't even be a challenge to a kid from Kabukicho."

"Eh, someone has to go up against the legendary Umibozu and defeat him, and all the poor sap gets is you as a bride?" he asked. "Talk about a ripoff."

This time, he couldn't dodge the kick to his gut which knocked nearly all the air out of him. "Damn China, this is why you're still single," he said, apparently not knowing when to quit. He fully expected to get hit again, but she surprised him by laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked, irritated.

"It's funny because you think people haven't tried, you naive little brat," she said. "I have my Mami's model looks, not to mention that I'm one of the rarest Amanto in the universe who is strong enough to defeat armies. Kings and nobles and warlords all over the universe have been proposing to me for a long time."

Despite the boastful words, he could tell that she was speaking the absolute truth. That just pissed him off even further, and he removed his eye mask and glared at her. Her face was obscured, but he could tell she would be narrowing her eyes the way she did before the two of them would start fighting.

Without reaching for his sword, he decided to go for a hand to hand fight this time around, grinning viciously when she intercepted his punch with her hand, and threw a punch with her other hand, which he intercepted. The two of them growled at each other, their hands locked together as they stayed seated still. A sword appeared between them, and they stopped to look at the unamused look on Hijikata's face.

"If you're feeling feisty, go for a run or something, you damn brats," he said.

"Hijikata-san, it's so rude for you to interrupt us when we're playing," said Sougo. "If you want to hold hands with us, you just have to say the word and I'll cut them off for you."

"The hell did you say, you sadistic brat?" shouted Hijikata, rounding on Sougo.

"Ah, is your hearing getting bad too?" asked Sougo, releasing China's hands, who let go of him as well. "Besides, everyone is playing too. Look, Yamazaki is playing badminton even."

That sufficiently distracted the demon Vice Chief as he ran towards Yamazaki, crying out for his blood. Sougo turned his attention back to China, but she was looking towards the house, where a moment later the frog emerged out, looking around sneakily.

"Damn bastard," muttered Sougo, as he got up and went towards him though Kondo got their first.

"Kinya-sama, where are you going?" asked Kondo, ever the polite one.

The frog looked at him with contempt, which made Sougo's blood boil. "I'm tired of sitting in my own house while you apes roam free causing chaos around my property," he snapped. "I'm going out."

"You can't go out, it's not safe," said Kondo, still attempting to be diplomatic.

"I don't feel any safer with you apes around anyway," said Kinya. "You no good humans are just lazing around here."

"We may be apes," said Kondo, losing his patience. "But we are samurai who abide by our bushido and we…" He suddenly stopped talking and turned towards the street.

Things happened really quickly after that, and Sougo rushed to Kondo's side as he pushed Kinya out of the way and took the bullet meant for him.

"Kondo-san!" shouted Harada, reaching Kondo the fastest and catching him as he fell.

"Huh," said Kinya, looking at Kondo. "At least you are good as shields."

Sougo saw red and his sword was out before he knew it to slice the frog's damn head off, but he felt a firm grip on his arm holding him back.

"Sougo, don't," said Hijikata, and the red began to clear. "Your pupils are dilated."

Fighting back the urge to kill the frog, Sougo slowly sheathed his sword, reminding himself over and over that he was a cop, and what the Shinsengumi meant to him. Gritting his teeth, he watched as the men carried Kondo away inside the house to begin treating him. The frog seemed intent on walking away but Sougo used his sheathed sword to knock him out with a blow to the back of the head, once he was sure no one was looking at him. Just because he wasn't going to kill him, didn't mean he was getting off scot free.

He cast a quick look around to see if there were secondary attackers, which was when he noticed that Kagura was gone. Sougo was about to curse out loud, when he saw her return, still all wrapped up, but carrying something over her shoulder. He squinted through the sunlight, and as he realised what it was, a slow smile of sadistic satisfaction lit his face up, and he could practically feel his dark aura glowing.

Kagura reached him and gave him a nod of acknowledgement, that he was happy to return, seeing that her dark aura might as well be shining like a beacon in this moment.

"Hijikata-san," called Sougo.

The doors slid open and the Vice Chief poked his head out. "What, Sougo?" he asked.

"Is he alright?" he asked first.

"It was just a graze, so they're treating it right now," he said. "More imp-" He trailed off as he finally looked at Kagura.

"Here," she said, dropping the man she had been carrying on her shoulder to the ground none too gently. "I knocked him out, but he can sing like a canary when we wake him up."

Hijikata looked shocked for a moment, and then an uncharacteristically savage smile graced his face. "Good work," he praised. "The two of you keep an eye out here while we look after Kondo-san."

Leaving them to it, he went back inside, delivering the news that the man who'd shot their Chief was in custody.

* * *

Kagura looked up at the darkening evening sky, enjoying the oranges and violets of the setting sun, the likes of which she had rarely ever seen even in her extensive travels to other planets. A slight breeze blew by, and she was grateful for it since she was still all wrapped up in bandages, though she had ditched her scarf and cape when the sun had started going down.

The pleasant atmosphere was currently being ruined by the cries of a man in pain while the Shinsengumi interrogated him. It wasn't exactly the first time Kagura had seen someone being tortured, but the sight of the man being hung upside down from a tree and dunked into a barrel of freezing cold water was still enough to turn her stomach.

"Does it bother you?"

Kagura glanced at Sougo, who was sitting next to her with an impassive look on his face. "I have seen worse things done to people," she said, avoiding answering him directly. "Where's Kinya?"

"Out cold, still," he said. "I wasn't exactly gentle when I knocked him out. Besides, Yamazaki and the others got a chance to look around the property since the frog was out of commission."

"Did they find anything?" asked Kagura.

"Enough evidence to bury him," he said. "And our friend over there has only admitted to being part of an extremist Joui group, though he still hasn't given up their base."

"You think he'll talk?" asked Kagura, just as the man's cries fell silent. She looked across the yard where he was being tortured and saw that he had passed out. The officers interrogating him looked frustrated but cut him down from the tree.

"Looks like a no," said Sougo. "He might still be useful as bait."

"You don't wonder if they've got the right idea after all?" asked Kagura. "Not shooting the Chief part, but taking out someone like Kinya," she added hastily, when Sougo looked at her with raised eyebrows.

He opened his mouth to answer, but they heard raised voices from inside the house which made both of them turn towards it.

"We know he's guilty, and he mocked the Chief who put his life on the line for scum like him," argued Yamazaki, surprisingly assertive for once. "Vice Chief, no one understands why we're here for someone like that. If even the Bakufu is worth protecting."

Next to her, Kagura saw Sougo chuckle as he got up and left towards the yard. Confused, Kagura tried to see what he was doing, but she heard Hijikata speaking, so she turned her head back towards the house.

"It's a bit late to consider that," said Hijikata, and there were audible gasps from the room. "The Bakufu doesn't serve humanity, and we have all known it even if we haven't wanted to say it. So, why the hell do you think we're still offering our sword?" He paused for a moment before speaking. "It's not for the Shogun, or the Bakufu. I fight for one reason alone, and it's that man lying over there who took a bullet for someone who was insulting him a moment before he did it. When we were nothing but country ruffians with nothing going for them but sword skills, he brought us together and gave us a purpose that lets us keep our swords even now. That is the only person I fight for, and if he says we have to protect the frog, then I'll do it."

Kagura listened to those words, her mind whirling. She waited for someone to protest and still refuse, but knew it wouldn't happen. She had only been with the Shinsengumi a short amount of time, but she had seen that the Chief inspired utmost loyalty and devotion from his men. Such loyalty was foreign to someone like her who followed her own rules bestowed upon her by her father. It wasn't familial bonds that tied these men to Kondo Isao, yet Kagura couldn't help but envy their faith and the connection they had to one another and their leader.

She looked up at the sky, wondering if she could ever form such bonds with people around her. She was valued for her strength, praised and admired for being a prodigy, but she didn't really have anyone apart from her father who wanted to know her as Kagura, the person, rather than Kagura, the alien hunter.

A noise in the yard broke through the depressing thoughts and drew her attention back, and her eyes went wide when she saw Sougo raise a sturdy wooden cross that had Kinya mounted on it. Once he had made sure that the cross was standing properly, he went and fetched a pile of firewood. Kagura gaped incredulously at the sight before her, and slowly stood up and walked over to them.

"What are you doing?" she asked, though she had a good idea.

Kinya was awake, and he croaked in terror when he saw her approach. Sougo just grinned darkly and began piling the firewood on the ground under Kinya's feet. "Building a campfire, since it's going to be a cold night," he said.

"You can't do that," said Kagura, and noticed Kinya's look of hope which she was all too happy to dash. "That firewood is too thick to get a proper blazing fire going." She picked up the pieces he had laid down and started splitting them with her bare hands, each log making a satisfying tearing noise that made Kinya more and more nervous.

"Ah, good thinking, China," said Sougo, taking the split logs from her and rearranging them.

"Wh-who are you?" asked Kinya, looking at her. "You're not one of the apes."

Kagura glared at him and slowly unravelled the bandages covering her face. Kinya's eyes went wide, and he glanced down fearfully at the umbrella she was holding at her side.

"I knew it," he said. "You're a Yato. A real one."

She finished unravelling her bandages and set them aside to be used as kindling for the campfire.

"Yeah," she said, noting that he didn't seem to recognise the likeness she shared with her brother, so it was likely Kinya wasn't familiar with him. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

"Why are you with the apes?" demanded Kinya. "You're a Yato. You clearly don't belong with someone like them. They don't even understand your worth."

Kagura hated these kind of people the most. It wasn't as if he thought that Yato were particularly superior or anything, but the implication in his incredulous exclamations was clearly that her skills were of more use to someone like him and the Amanto he considered superior to humans. He was exactly the kind of person her Papi always told her to stay away from, because to people like him she was nothing more than a tool to be used for her strength. Usually, she could just ignore it, but she was particularly touchy at the moment.

"I would shut your mouth and worry about your own situation, froggy," said Sougo, his voice as blank and lazy as ever, and Kagura jumped slightly, having nearly forgotten that he was right next to her and hearing Kinya spew his nonsense at her. Somehow, hearing him speak calmed Kagura down.

Kinya yelped as Sougo lit the fire, keeping the flame small for the time being, though the large pile of firewood next to him sent out a clear message that Kinya's situation could grow worse with ease.

Apparently, the frog bastard really didn't know when to quit. "I'll pay you whatever you want if you come work for me," he said, looking at Kagura. "I'll double what they're paying you."

Kagura was fuming, her hands trembling from the effort of not killing the frog right that instant.

"Feel that, China?" drawled Sougo, and Kagura found herself inexplicably calming down once again. "It's getting colder, huh? I'd better make the fire warmer." He dropped a couple more logs on the fire. "It's funny, isn't it, Kinya-sama," he said, his tone unchanged though Kagura thought the shadows from the fire were making him look more menacing. "Before Kondo-san put his life on the line for you, he was telling you about the bushido we samurai abide by. China over there is not a samurai by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll save you some time and let you in on a secret. Someone like her could never be bought by someone like you who doesn't know how much more a carton of overpriced and under flavoured ice cream means than all the money in the world."

Sougo stood up and grinned at Kinya, before wandering back towards the house. Kagura stood in place, stunned beyond belief that, one, the Sadist had defended her and two, had pointed out something that hadn't even been apparent to Kagura before. Shinpachi bringing her Baagen Daz as thanks for saving him from Harusame meant more than whatever money someone like Kinya could throw at her. It hadn't been a thank you for her strength, but a thank you for being a saviour, a person coming to the rescue when she had no obligation to do so. It was so obvious now that it had been pointed out, and by the Sadist of all people.

Without thinking, Kagura turned and ran towards Sougo, coming to a stop just a little behind him. He paused walking and looked at her in question. Feeling embarrassed all of a sudden, she reached out and punched him squarely in the shoulder.

He looked at her blankly, like he thought she was an idiot. "Ow," he said flatly, rubbing his shoulder where she'd punched him.

Kagura turned her back on him to hide her face which was flaming red at this point. "D-don't get the wrong idea," she said. "I was just...saying thank you."

If she would have turned around, Kagura would have seen the stunned look on Sougo's face, and the way his ears went a little pink. The moment was broken when Hijikata came out of the house after hearing Kinya's painful ribbitting, after which he proceeded to berate both Kagura and Sougo, and then added some more firewood on the fire himself. The Jouishishi chose that moment to attack as well, and in the chaos that ensured, the little moment lay forgotten for everyone involved.

It wasn't until later that night when Kagura was tucked into her futon in her room back at the Shinsengumi compound that she recalled what had happened. She then proceeded to pull the blankets over her head and resort to her plan to hide away until she figured out what the hell had happened to make her heart race so much.


	3. Chapter 3

It was her first proper day off in a while, and Kagura was determined to enjoy it to the fullest. It had been over a week since the Harusame incident and protecting Kinya, and Kagura had been stuck inside the compound learning about Shinsengumi investigative methods and past cases with Sougo during the day, and training the troops in the evening. She hadn't had a chance to venture out at all, and she supposed that was part of her punishment, though neither Kondo nor Hijikata had said so explicitly.

Considering what the alternative consequences could have been, Kagura was happier it was restricted to one week of being subjected to Sougo's sarcastic (and sadistic) teaching methods which included a cut-and-dodge battle every time she made a mistake when he quizzed her. She suspected he just wanted a chance to fight her, so she went along with it, fighting back just as viciously as he was. They would emerge for the evening training with cuts and bruises (healing ones, in Kagura's case) leading everyone to wonder just what the hell kind of learning they were doing.

Still, the week of punishments was over, and Kagura was free, which was why she was going outside and replenishing her sukonbu supply, and seeing if she could catch Otae in time for lunch. But her plans were derailed when she ran into Gintoki of all people while she was buying sukonbu and he emerged from the pachinko parlour next door.

"Kagura," he said, surprised when he saw her.

She smiled tentatively at him, remembering that the last time he'd seen her was before she'd killed an entire fleet of pirates and sunk their ship. "G-gin-chan," she said, cursing inwardly as she stumbled on her words.

To her surprise, he smiled at her in relief. "You're fine," he said. "That's good."

"You were worried?" she asked, confused. "Why?"

He looked away in embarrassment. "Ah, just...Zura said you were taking responsibility, and then we hadn't seen you in a while," he mumbled. "Shinpachi and Otae have been harassing me to go down to the Shinsengumi compound to check on you."

"They have?" she asked, suddenly feeling her chest get tight.

He nodded, still looking embarrassed. "But they'll be happy to know you're fine," he said, smiling at her.

"You don't hate me?" she blurted out.

Gintoki looked shocked, and he placed a hand on her shoulder and began guiding her away. Kagura didn't even notice that she was close to tears until then. She hid her face behind the curtain of her long hair, letting Gintoki lead her out of the crowded street where they were starting to attract odd looks. Instead of going back to the Yorozuya, Gintoki took her in the direction of the park.

He told her to sit on a bench and then left, coming back a moment later with a twin ice lolly that he split in half, giving her one half and taking the other half for himself.

"Eat it before it melts," he said, when she just stared at it in shock.

Kagura ate the frozen treat, enjoying the sweet taste and coolness of the lolly. "Thanks," she said, feeling slightly better.

"And I don't hate you," he said, and she glanced at him in shock. He was looking up at the sky as he spoke. "Not even a little bit."

"Even after what I did?" she asked, just to make sure.

He looked at her then, and smiled. "Especially after what you did," he said. "I owe you a debt, Kagura-chan," he said, affection suffusing his tone in a way that warmed Kagura's heart. "I promise to repay it."

"You don't owe me anything," she said, honestly. "You could have saved Shinpachi with Zura's help, even if I hadn't been there."

"It's not about whether I could have done it," he said, seriously. "Even if you had to stop the Harusame, you still went out of your way to protect me and Zura and Shinpachi. A debt like that is very precious."

Something in his tone told her that he really meant what he said, and that debt was indeed something very important to him.

"But Shinpachi gave me Baagen Daz already," she said.

"Yeah," he said. "Since he already gave you a gift and I lost all my money at pachinko today, I'll give you a promise instead."

"A promise?" asked Kagura, eyes going wide.

Gintoki nodded and smiled softly. "A promise to protect you, like you protected me," he said. Kagura didn't know how to respond to that, or the affectionate way Gintoki patted the top of her head.

"This isn't like a marriage promise, is it?" she asked, finally.

He was startled into laughter, before quickly looking horrified. "No," he said.

"Good," she said, relieved. "I have had those kinds of promises offered before and they're creepy and weird."

"It's a promise to keep you safe," said Gintoki, recovering from that traumatising remark. "I don't claim to hold ambitions to reclaim this damn country like Zura or that bastard Takasugi, but there are things in this world I would protect, no matter what."

"And I'm one of them?" asked Kagura. At his nod, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Ah, Kagura-chan, it wasn't a marriage promise, remember?" he mumbled embarrassedly, flailing his arms awkwardly though her grip on him was tight and unwavering.

She let him go and beamed widely. "It's much more precious than something stupid like marriage," she said. "You consider me to be like Shinpachi and _anego_ and Sadaharu, right?"

"Yes," he said, honestly.

Kagura grinned happily and went back to eating her lolly. "Then that's all that matters," she declared.

Even if he was a little confused at her suddenly cheerful mood, Gintoki just smiled at her as the two sat on the bench side by side, eating their respective treats, both feeling at peace.

* * *

A day or so later, Edo was hit with a heat wave.

"It's too damn hot," complained Kagura, as she and Sougo sat outside the dango shop but thankfully under the shade.

"It's a heat wave, what do you want me to do about it?" he asked, his creepy eye mask on his face as he lazed on the bench next to her.

"I hate the heat," she said, finishing her fifth plate of dango. "It's my least favourite part of Edo, apart from your face."

"You're free to walk away from my face," he said, without missing a beat. "But you would probably die in this heat, wouldn't you, weak little China doll?"

Kagura reached for her sixth plate of dango and tried to thump his gut with her umbrella using her other hand at the same time. He dodged the blow by rolling away at the last second, and she was reluctantly impressed that he'd done so without removing his eye mask.

"How's the Shinsengumi sixth division doing?" he asked, after a moment of quiet as he went back to lazing in the same spot.

"Improving, but slower than others," she said. Conversations regarding the troops was the only time the two of them had a conversation that was somewhat civil. "You should know though, you've been watching all of them," she added, smugly. She had sensed him watching nearly all of her training sessions, though he was almost always out of sight.

"I just don't want to subject myself to you anymore than I have to," he said.

Kagura pulled on his eye mask and snapped it back onto his face. He didn't react at all, so she huffed and stood up. "I'm going to go visit Gin-chan and Shinpachi," she said. "They are still trying to look after that poor little dog, and I'm the only one who can play with him properly."

"Only you would call a monster like that a poor dog," said Sougo, sitting up and removing his eye mask.

"Don't call Sadaharu a monster," she snapped.

"Oi, pay for your food before you leave, brat," he said, glaring at her.

She didn't bother turning around. "You can pay for insulting me and Sadaharu as compensation for our hurt feelings," she said, knowing he would grumble but do it.

A part of it was that the Shinsengumi wasn't exactly paying her for her services. She was given room and board for free, and she had some money that her father had given her, so her spending money usually came from Sougo. Well, until her second week in Edo anyway, when he'd dragged her into a meeting with Kondo and Hijikata.

"Either start paying her, or start paying me more," he'd declared.

Hijikata had acquiesced and now, Kagura got a little bit of a stipend for training the Shinsengumi troops. It didn't mean she was letting Sougo off the hook, especially when he was annoying her.

Somehow it never occurred to either of them that Sougo could just refuse her.

* * *

Only five minutes or so after Kagura left to visit the Yorozuya, Sougo's phone rang. He flipped it open and saw that it said 'Soon-to-be-dead Hijibaka-san calling'.

"It can't happen soon enough," said Sougo, as way of answering the phone.

"What can't?" asked Hijikata.

"My greatest dream, that's all," said Sougo. "What did you want, Hijikata-san? I'm already annoyed because of a certain China brat."

"Soyo-hime has run away from the palace," he said. "Get Kagura to track her down."

"The attack doggie has wandered off," said Sougo, in a bored voice.

"What?" asked Hijikata, annoyed. "Then go find her and get her to look for the princess. If something were to happen to the Shogun's sister, we'll all lose our heads."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," said Sougo. "I just need to get China's head for the Shogun, right? Roger." He hung up the phone over Hijikata's screams of annoyance. "Ah, what a pain," he murmured to himself, putting on his jacket. "A heatwave and a missing princess." He paid the dango shop owner for seven plates of dango and began walking towards the Yorozuya, though he took his sweet time getting there.

When he finally knocked on the door, he was greeted by an extremely sweaty _megane_. "Ah, Okita-san, if you're looking for Kagura, she just took Sadaharu out for a walk in the park," he said.

"Oi, Okita-kun, can't you tax robbers take the damn dog off our hands?" asked Gintoki, from his spot where he was lazing on the sofa. "He's going to eat me into bankruptcy if I'm lucky, or he'll just kill me first."

"No, thanks, _danna_ ," said Sougo. "We already got China who eats through a quarter of our food budget and can kill us. If we can keep her, you can keep the dog."

"Don't let Kagura hear you calling her a pet," said Shinpachi, frowning at Sougo. "It's actually a miracle that she doesn't realise that Sadaharu is trying to hurt her as much as he's trying to hurt us, but she just isn't phased."

"Why are you trying to understand beasts?" asked Sougo. "Well, I'm going to find her because I need her to do actual work. See you later."

"Did something happen?" asked Gintoki.

"No, she just owes me for dango," said Sougo, waving goodbye as he left.

* * *

Kagura was walking with Sadaharu, her day getting better instantly after seeing the big, fluffy dog. He charged at her and she batted him away playfully, glad that he was so sturdy unlike all the other Sadaharu that had come before him. The park was mostly empty because of the heat wave, so it gave them both more space to play around without having to worry about civilians running away in terror from them.

In fact, they didn't come across anyone else until they got to the swing set and came across Yocchan, the self-declared king of Kabukicho, a snot-nosed brat with way too much attitude and nothing to back it up. He and an underling were currently bullying a girl, who was too far for Kagura to see properly.

"Wait here, Sadaharu," said Kagura, making her way over there.

As she got closer, she realised that the girl was dressed far too nicely to be from Kabukicho. The expensive kimono, the smell of fine incense emanating from her, and the neat, glossy black hair, all told Kagura that she was clearly in the wrong part of town and likely unaware of the danger someone like her could be in here.

"Oi," said Kagura, approaching them. Yocchan and his underling turned around and paled when they saw Kagura. "Scram," she told them.

They both made sounds of disgust but a raised eyebrow from her sent them running. When she'd first come across them, they'd tried to get into a fight with her, and she'd only had to punch a nearby wall for them to realise what kind of strength she possessed. After that, they'd resorted to making faces and running away when they saw her, and Kagura was just mostly over their childishness. They weren't worth her time.

The girl smiled gratefully at Kagura. "Thank you," she said.

"You shouldn't be here," Kagura told her bluntly. "This part of town isn't exactly known to be safe, especially for someone like you."

"Someone like me?" she asked, confused.

"You are dressed and smell much nicer than people here," she said. "Where did you come from?"

The girl smiled and pointed at a structure in the distance, and Kagura's eyebrows shot up. "You belong to the Shogun's family?" she asked.

She nodded eagerly. "My name is Soyo," she said. "Who are you?"

"Kagura," she answered. "I'm an alien hunter."

"You're an Amanto?" asked Soyo, eyes wide with wonder.

"Yeah, and fortunately for you, affiliated with the Shinsengumi so I can take you back safely," she said.

"No, please wait," said Soyo, frowning. "I snuck out of the palace because I wanted to see Edo with my own eyes."

Kagura sighed. "Can't you go when you have security with you or something?" she asked.

Soyo stood up and grabbed Kagura's arm. "I won't be allowed," she said. "Please, won't you show me around Edo? I'll be safe with you."

"You know nothing about me," said Kagura, glancing down to where she was gripping her arm in surprise.

Soyo shook her head. "You're an alien hunter, so you're strong. And you work with the Shinsengumi, so you will keep me safe," she said, confidently. "Please, just one day. I just want to have one day of being a normal girl."

Kagura looked at her pleading eyes and glanced away. "Fine," she agreed. "But you stick close to me and don't draw attention to yourself."

"Agreed!" said Soyo, eagerly. "This will be so much fun!"

* * *

Sougo was irritated. The park was empty, which meant that he didn't find what he was looking for. Contrary to what China thought about him tracking her, he only found her because she was so noticeable to people of Edo, and he usually just had to ask about the vermillion-haired girl and people usually told him where to find her. But on a day like today when everyone was indoors, he had no leads once he didn't find her in the empty park.

"Why'd she pick today of all days?" he wondered out loud, taking off his jacket. His phone buzzed again, and he rolled his eyes. "No, I haven't found her yet."

"Are you even looking?" demanded Hijikata.

"No, I'm taking a nice nap in the shade," said Sougo, shielding his eyes from the sun as he left the park. "Bye." He hung up before Hijikata could go off on his tirade.

Knowing Kagura would likely go back to the Yorozuya to return the dog, he retraced his footsteps, only to have it be in vain when he was greeted by _danna_ who told him that he'd missed Kagura by minutes as she'd dropped the dog off.

"You're a pain," mumbled Sougo, thinking of the troublesome brat he was partnered up with. "Oh, well, it's too hot."

With that, he decided to head back towards town. If he joined the search with the rest of the squad, he might be able to take a nap in the air conditioned squad car, at the very least.

* * *

"...and he's lazy," finished Kagura.

Soyo laughed in amusement, and Kagura grinned at her. "He sounds like a pain," she said, sympathetically.

Kagura nodded vigorously. "But enough about him," she said. "What do you want to do next? We've already gone to the arcade, visited the gambling den and eaten our snacks."

"It's hot outside, isn't it?" asked Soyo. "Is there something else we can do that's indoors?"

"We could go drinking, but it's still early," said Kagura. "If we drink before sundown then we'll be written off by society as useless humans."

"Really?" asked Soyo, eyes wide with interest. "You know so much, Kagura-chan."

"Of course," said Kagura. "I may be new to Edo, but I have been all over the universe. I know a lot. Now, do you want to go eat some more?"

"More sukonbu?" asked Soyo eagerly.

"If you want," said Kagura. "I promised you a day of being normal, didn't I?"

"Thank you for that," said Soyo, smiling softly. "I know my demand was rather selfish, but thank you just the same. Today has been wonderful, already."

"It's not over yet," said Kagura, and then looked a bit embarrassed. "Also, I guess I understand a little. Wanting to be normal and running away for a while. I'm kind of doing the same thing here in Edo."

"You don't like being an alien hunter?" asked Soyo, confused.

"I do," admitted Kagura. "But it's got its own cost that I didn't fully realise until I came to Edo."

Soyo's eyes were understanding. "I think I get it," she said. "Inside the palace, I would always look out into Edo, wanting to see what it was really like. Now that I'm here actually experiencing it, I keep wanting to see more and not go back."

"But you will return to your usual life, won't you?" asked Kagura, eyes downcast. "Just like I have to, as well."

They were both silent, lost in their own thoughts after that.

"Regardless," said Soyo, finally. "Whatever time we do have, whether a day or more, I plan on enjoying it."

Kagura grinned at her, her mood lifting a little. "Me too," she said.

"Then would you grant me another selfish wish?" asked Soyo.

"What is it?" asked Kagura.

"I would like to be friends," said Soyo, eyes shining. "Whether you're here in Edo or out in space, I would like for us to always be friends, Kagura-chan."

Kagura's eyes went wide. "Friends?" she asked, stunned. At Soyo's eager look however, she nodded quickly. "Yes," she said, at once. "I would like that a lot."

Soyo smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Now that that's settled," she said, linking her arm with Kagura's. "Let's go for some more sukonbu. I want to buy a whole lot to take back with me."

 **A/N Part 3 will be coming soon!**


End file.
